Tag Archives: bike camping

Hi there Bike Denton,
We are two people who have sold all our belongings to travel the US by bicycle. Currently we’re in Texas and are giving a presentation at Trinity Bicycles next Wed.

We’re big fans of these folks, and we started reading Russ Roca’s writing back when he was a carfree photographer in LA. Yeah, that’s right, CARFREE IN LA. Carpool to Ft Worth on Wed for this, Denton folks. If you want to learn about bike-camping, these are great folks to ask about it. They’ll be sharing lessons from the road and photos, great photos since Russ is a professional photographer.

Denton, meet Ari.

Three weeks ago, in Austin, I was volunteer working for the Yellow Bike Project community bike shop. They have an amazing new facility, and I had a great time working hard with great folks. One of the folks I met is Ari Gold, and when I asked him if he lived in Austin, he replied “No. I’m riding my bike around the world.”

Ari has a blog called BikeToAustralia where you can follow his travels, and I’ve already gone back and read the whole thing, and it’s fascinating. The following quote sums up the question most people ask him, why he’s riding around the world:

I want MEMORIES worth living for when all I have are memories. I want to experience other ways of life I greatly enjoy but barely know about. The museums, architecture, food, music, accents, clothing, belief systems, societies and interactions of people all fascinate me and excite my curiosity

I told Ari to look us up if he came through Denton, and he did exactly that. After a perilous trip through Dallas’ sprawl, he made it here, safe and sound. After staying at my house for the last couple nights, he’ll be moving on to work at the Ponder Acres organic farm just west of Denton.

If you’d like to get in touch with Ari to offer him work, hospitality, or conversation, you can reach him at bike2australia [at] yahoo [dot] co [dot] uk. He takes Paypal through his blog to help fund his 5 year world tour, and frankly, he could use some nicer components on his ailing bicycle. I’ll be giving him some parts that I have, and hopefully he’ll leave Denton on a better ride than he arrived on.

Ari is a gracious, hard working houseguest, and I wouldn’t hesitate to give him shelter again.

If you have to work for a living and don’t have summers off, bike camping is easier to fit in, and the easiest way of all is with Sub-24 Hour Overnight (S24O) trips. You leave on your bike in the late afternoon or evening, ride to your campsite in a few hours, camp, sleep, and ride home the next morning. It’s that simple, and that’s the beauty of it. You can fit it in. It requires almost no planning or time commitment.

For this S24O, we rode from central Denton out to Ray Roberts, and we camped in the Isle Du Bois campground. That campground has nice, large, secluded campsites which border the lake. You can walk 30 feet and be in the water, which feels exquisite during the summer. Our route was about 17 miles each way, and it’s fairly flat with a climb up the lake dam near the park. One of our campers climbed it just fine on a single speed mountain bike, so it can’t be that bad.

The route out there is beautiful, and once you get north of Loop 288, the city unwinds into grassy fields and a wide shoulder to ride on.

nice, WIDE shoulder

I think packing for bikecamping is easier than packing for car camping, because you can’t haul as much on a bike, and it’s harder to endlessly capitulate over which shoes to bring (and then end up bringing all the choices). Since you’ll only be out for a day or so, you won’t need a cooler or much cookware. We usually bring a burrito for one easy meal, and I usually pack a sandwich for a simple, no-cook breakfast. The simple comforts/needs are the most appreciated. As always, we made Bookish coffee in the morning, just like at home, ground by hand.

Zassenhaus turkish coffee mill, unbreakable french press

Isle Du Bois campsites at Ray Roberts are not directly accessible by car, so they’re quiet, easily accessible by bike/foot, and you won’t have headlights/sound interrupting your quiet camp experience. Except for occasional trolling fishing boats and buzzing recreational watercraft, it’s pretty quiet. Even in the dead of summer, the water is refreshingly cool, so bring swimming clothes.

I liked our route, which used the northern half of the Greenbelt trail. Wide tires are nice for this kind of riding (I use 28c-35c), but our friend Cooper came along with us on skinny road tires and did just fine.

At a minimum, you’ll need a rear rack to carry some stuff: tent, sleeping pad, food, clothes. A front rack is also nice, because it can even out the load and make the bike easier to handle than if unevenly loaded.

After a long mid-morning swim, we packed up and rolled out. Efficient bike camping generates minimal trash which can be easily hauled out.

On the return ride on the Greenbelt, we stopped at the Old Mckinney bridge. It’s a 100+ year old dilapidated structure, but the main concrete piers tower over the shallow creek. I think the sign said that Bonnie and Clyde had used it as an escape route, but I can’t find any mention of that in historical text.

There’s a gas station on the return route, in case you need water, snacks, or a pear tree.